Human blood plasma is the most complex human-derived proteome. At the same time, plasma is a valuable informative proteome for medical diagnosis. The attraction of plasma for disease diagnosis lies in two characteristics: the ease by which it can be safely obtained and the fact that it comprehensively samples the human phenotype (Anderson, et al., Mol. Cell Proteomics (2002) 1.11:845-867).
Approximately half of the total protein mass in plasma is accounted by one protein (albumin), while the top ten proteins together make up 90% of the total (Anderson, J. Physiol. (2005) 563.1:23-60). This enormous dynamic range (nearly 10 orders of magnitude between the high abundance and very low abundance proteins) is currently outside the range of available technologies in proteomics.